Amidst the Loss 16 Billion Liberian Dollars, Dr.  George Weah’s Finance Minister Tweah censures Female employees Wearing Wigs to Work

No Wig/Colored Hair In Dr. Weah's Government?

Editor's Notes: There are lots of strange things happening in “Dr.” George Weah’s Government. Under the watchful eyes of Finance Minister Samuel Tweah, are women sporting un-natural and colored hair, not allowed to perform their duties as employees at the Finance Ministry? The Press release from the Gender Ministry quoted The Decent Work Law of Liberia, which in their words “clearly defines discrimination as the unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people or things, especially on the grounds of race, age, or sex.” The nation is replete with cancer survivors most of whom are bald after lengthy chemotherapy who have to wear wigs. Is this a crime in eyes of Weah and his point man Tweah? When will the Dr. Weah Government get it right? The President was at the UNGA when Liberians opted to show their moral outrage about the so-called missing containers of money. But upon his return, President Weah’s anger was against those who staged a peaceful demonstration. The inference is that the president does not care about getting at the bottom of these “stolen” containers of money. Are we missing something? Where is the pro-poor taking us as a nation? Is this more important than the missing container of 16 BILLION DOLLARS?
This is becoming very interesting by the minute and ironically the President wife is to establish a Brazilian hair factory in Liberia. In any case, published below is a press release from the Gender Ministry which happens to be part of the Dr. Weah Government.

October 8th, 2018 ~ The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, (MoGCSP), is deeply concerned about reports that female employees of the Ministry of Finance, and Development Planning, (MoFDP), are being restricted from entering the building for wearing colored or unnatural hair.

A local media outlet recently reported that a number of female employees of MoFDP, are currently away from work, because they have been instructed to wear only 'black colored-natural hair.'

Given the ramification of such distressing situation at the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, MoGCSP, through the office of the Minister, engaged authorities at MoFDP to firstly ascertain the veracity of the story and, if true - to constructively engage them on revisiting said policy.  The authorities of MoFDP confirmed to the Minister that the policy on hair color and styles were a part of their Employee Handbook published in 2014; Section 7.4 of the Employee Handbook discourages the use of unnatural colored hair (such as Green, Pink, etc.) and extreme hairstyles.

The Gender Minister then encouraged MoFDP authorities to revisit such policy and ensure that an amended version is in conformity with this present government's own agenda for the protection of women's rights given the fact that both President Dr. George M. Weah and Min. Samuel D. Tweah, Jr., are avowed He4Shes and women's rights champions.

This intervention is expected to yield positive results as soon as possible, as MoFDP was very responsive during the engagement. 

Though the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection welcomes the setting up of internal workplace regulations, it seriously frowns on any kind of policy that discriminates against women.

The Decent Work Law of Liberia clearly defines discrimination as the unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people or things, especially on the grounds of race, age, or sex.

Additionally, the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, (MGCSP), calls on all public and private institutions to harmonize their policies in line with the National Code of Conduct and Decent Work Bill, and make necessary amendments, to avoid the violation of women's rights.

From the directive of the Hon Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection Madam Williametta E. Saydee-Tarr.

 

Signed,
Eric Pervist
Communication Specialist
MoGCSP
0777808145